Asking/stating the meaning of words

[charusu]

Hi everybody,

How would one ask the meaning of a word or state the meaning of a word, or state their feelings about a word in Japanese? For instance, how would I say something like "What does the word 'instantiate' mean?", or "How do you say 'hello' in Japanese?", or "The meaning of the word '幽玄' is beautiful". I reasoned that it involves the quotation meaning of と, but can't put it together. Does that make sense?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

よろしくお願いします！

 

[Toritoribe]

という, or more colloquially って, is used.

instantiateというのはどういう意味ですか？
helloは日本語でどう言いますか/言えばいいですか？
幽玄はmysterious profundityという意味です。

instantiateってどういう意味？
helloって日本語でどう言うの/なんて言うの？
幽玄はmysterious profundityっていう意味だよ。

 

[Mike Cash]

I'd like to know what "instantiate" means in English.....

 

[charusu]

"To instantiate" means "to create an instance of" - so a house is an instantiation of a house blueprint - you are an instantiation of a 'human blueprint'. In OOP (object-oriented programming) we define classes that act as blueprints from which we create objects (instantiations of a class). The term is also used in philosophy.